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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Preparing for 6th grade

I can hardly believe the title of this post! How is it possible that I could be preparing for Martin to be a 6th grader? I almost feel like a seasoned homeschooling Mom! Those of you who have been doing this a lot longer than me probably got a kick out of the previous line. One thing is certain - each child that you add to your homeschool is like adding a brand new puzzle that you have to work very hard to figure out. I love gathering books and preparing for the following school year. I usually start in February. It's almost half way through March and I am just starting the process this year. Thankfully, I use Heart of Dakota and I already know what books that I need. For 6th Grade, Martin will be doing Hearts for Him Through Time: Resurrection To Reformation.

This school year has really been outstanding! We've had our ups and downs just like everyone else - but we've had a really good flow for the most part. Martin has had an outstanding attitude all year long in getting his work done. A complaint seldom comes out of his mouth! I am so thankful!

Every year I have doubted my math choices and every year I've looked into other curriculum choices thinking that maybe I ought to switch and every year my wise husband has urged me to stick with what I am doing. I am so thankful that he encouraged me to stick with it because I have always loved Singapore Math (which is what Martin has been doing since 1st grade) and this has been a really good year for Martin. It seems like we've crossed some sort of threshold of understanding. He just gets it. Not only does he get it - but Singapore is so strong in teaching mental math - that most of the time he's able to figure it out before I can get it all written down to check and see if he's right. Good things are happening in Math!

I loved Preparing Hearts for His Glory that I used for Martin's 4th grade year - I loved the fantastic overview of world history from the ancient to the present. The read a-louds that went along with the history study were excellent. I found it hard to imagine topping that year, but Creation to Christ has been fantastic and I've enjoyed it just as much as I did his 4th grade year. I am super excited that I get to do Preparing Hearts again next school year with Aaron.Jonathan will be doing Little Hearts for His Glory for 1st grade. Rosalie will be tagging along with Jonathan a little bit, but I will not require any written work from her.(although, she's going to want to do it)One of the many reasons that I love using Heart of Dakota is because of the thorough study of history. I love that the younger years give a gentle introduction to history that causes my children to love history without all of the complicated details of ancient history, the lofty topics of mythology, and the violence of all the war.My children love history as much and maybe even more than I do!We are about 2/3 of the way through the school year and will be finishing this school year around mid-June. We have our annual testing coming up this week. I take them in March each year instead of waiting until the end of the school year. I prefer to take them in March, so that I can get a good look at their strengths and weaknesses and then adjust the final 1/3 of the school year in a way that will help meet any needs that they may have.My blog has been terribly neglected, but for good reason.